Compassion and impermanence

As I wrote in my book, Living as a River:

Relating to someone as a "self"—on the basis of how we see them right now—is like seeing a video reduced to a single frame, or seeing a ball hurtling through the air in a freeze-frame photograph. It's life-denying. It's a static way of seeing things. In taking a snapshot of a thing we lose its sense of trajectory, the sense that it's headed somewhere. We're disconnected from the reality of change and process. But imagine if we could consistently see a person not as a thing but as a process—if we could, at least in our imagination—see that person evolving towards wisdom and compassion. How might that change both them and us? That's the challenge for us all.

I'd like to suggest an experiment to you, and I'd be delighted if you'd write a few words below about your experience of trying this. The experiment will only take two or three minutes of your time.

• I'd like you to call to mind someone you have a conflict with. Perhaps they have an annoying habit, or have done something to hurt you. Imagine that this person is in front of you.
• Call to mind the thing that bothers you about this person. Feel the annoyance that's connected with that thing.
• Now, imagine, to the left of the person you're thinking of, a much younger version of them. Perhaps at about 10 months old, when they were a baby, able to sit up, perhaps, but not yet able to walk or talk. And realize that these are both the same person.
• Then, on the right side of the person you're calling to mind, see a much older version of them — perhaps in their nineties. Really old. And realize that all three forms are the same person.
• Now, call to mind that same thing that annoyed you about this person.

So, what happened for you?

I've recently been asking people to try this, and almost everyone has said that they experience sadness. They move from irritation or resentment, to sadness. Very quickly. Often people mention a sense of love or compassion as well, mingled with the sadness.

I think this is a very positive thing. It's much healthier and less destructive, on the whole, to experience sadness than it is to experience hatred.

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Why might we feel sad?

For me, it's a number of things. I feel sad that I've taken one thing about a person's life that I don't like, and related to them on the basis of that, ignoring the rest of their being. I feel sad because life is too short to waste on petty ill will. And perhaps I'm a little sad at reminding myself of the brevity of life, and the inevitability of death.

But there's a sense of sadness, too, that's almost esthetic. Seen as just one part of an entire life, this irritating flaw makes the whole more beautiful, like the craquelure on an old painting, the creases on an old, faded photograph, or the peeling paint and sagging timbers of an old New England barn.

The sadness is, for me at least, mingled with love and compassion. It's freeing myself from the prison of the moment, and seeing the person not as a static thing, but as an ever-changing continuum that allows that to happen. When a person is seen as a fixed point in time and space, there is much to dislike. When a person is seen as an ever-evolving process, there is much to love.

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